Page 63 of The Prince's Sacrifice

“Nice to see you conscious, Your Highness,” Beluna said, her lip curled up in a bit of a teasing smirk, her dark eyes dancing with amusement.

Ah, yes, Tor knew that he liked her.

“Thank you,” he said, smiling at them. “It’s nice tobeconscious.”

As they started moving, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other like he normally would. Nothing was wrong, exactly, but his body didn’t feel quite right, either. He was also preternaturally aware of what he was doing, like it was still novel in some way, which probably wasn’t helping anything.

They stopped by the kitchen for breakfast, more or less like normal. Pel didn’t usually come with him, but it was clear he wasn’t leaving Tor’s side right now. Tor got lots of well-wishes and a lot of scolding when he mentioned the crystal lights.

“Absolutely not,” Pel hissed.

Tor rolled his eyes. “I was about to say that I’m afraid I can’t renew them today.”

Belatedly, he realized that if he’d been in a magical coma for days after haring off across the realm, they shouldn’t be lit right now.

“Princess Larexa has been taking care of it,” one of the cooks said with a smile and a motherly eye. “You just take care of yourself, Prince Torex!”

Tor knew when not to argue. After a hearty breakfast, they headed out to the stables. They were a bit earlier than normal, but there was nothing strange about Tor and Pel saddling their horses to head off for the morning. The presence of Beluna and Denil was unusual, of course—but after everything that had happened, no one had said a word about them so far.

In truth, he and Pel should probably have had guards with them the entire time. Melody huffed at Tor, pricked his ears forward, and nosed right at Tor’s chest like he knew Tor’s magic had messed everything up.

“Sorry about that,” Tor told him, stroking his neck. “I didn’t mean to be an unconscious disaster.”

It sounded like Beluna tried to turn a laugh into a cough. Tor fed Melody a carrot and an apple, Pel hovered until Tor had safely mounted—on his own, thank you very much!—and in a remarkably short time, they were riding off, just like they normally would. After all, they’d gone to the river before to check on the embankments after the flooding.

Tor felt a pang to his heart as he realized that he wasn’t going to get to say goodbye to all the farmers and villagers. Of course, it had actually been days since he’d last been to visit, but at the time, he’d expected to be able to go back after the patrol, to let them know that he and Pel were going to Alossa.

Instead, they were sneaking away, and while Tor didn’t feel even the slightest bit guilty about getting away from Forex like this, he would have liked to inform everyone else. He blew out a breath. He’d just have to trust that Bavil and Larexa would pick up the slack. Tor wouldn’t forget the issues everyone had raised, and once he had everythingelsesorted with Varex—it was becoming a numbered list at this point—he’d be sure to mention the Tondian concerns.

With a bit of luck, it wouldn’t be more than a few weeks before he and Pel were headed back here, and Tor could comeupdate them all in person. And he’d just have to hope that in the meantime they didn’t hear a completely garbled version of what had happened up the mountain. Tor squirmed a little at the idea that they might be left with the impression that he didn’t care about Tondians—because that was certainly the version that King Forex was espousing.

He reminded himself that Bavil and Larexa knew what had actually happened, and they were far more likely to actually talk to these people. Rumors probablywouldspread, but Pel’s siblings could hopefully counter them.

Worst-case scenario, he’d just have to try to rebuild his relationship with them when he returned. He’d done it once, and he had to believe he could do it again. There was no time for anything else right now.

At the river, Cavun was waiting with the two small boats, and Tor was confused at the four other people also there until Pel greeted them, and it became apparent that they were here to ride the horses back—or rather, to “exercise the horses” by riding them out past the farms and returning in the afternoon sometime, just like Tor and Pel would normally do.

“I’m afraid Prince Torex isn’t up to anything quite so vigorous yet,” Pel said with a wry smile. “But we want to be sure the horses are properly exercised while we engage in some less strenuous activity.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” a child of perhaps fifteen said, green eyes bright and blond hair plaited down her back.

“And we’ll speak to Prince Bavil should we encounter any issues with the horses,” the dark-skinned boy said, with the slightest pause before he mentioned the horses.

He looked like he was the oldest, maybe eighteen or so. The last two just nodded, eyes a bit wide, like they didn’t deal with princes very often.

Pel smiled at them. “Perfect.”

Tor dismounted less elegantly than he usually managed, but he didn’t fall on his ass, so he was counting it as a win. He fed Melody another carrot and two apples, then told him he’d be sure to give him more as soon as he saw him again.

Melody nosed Tor’s tunic like he was trying to make sure he hadn’t hidden more treats on his person. Tor stroked his neck and pressed a kiss to his nose.

“Behave for the stable hands, won’t you?” he asked.

Melody snorted.

Tor grinned at the young people. “That’s about as good as you’re going to get.”

The girl who’d first spoken came close to rolling her eyes. “Oh, we’ve seen his manners in the stable, never you fear, Your Highness. We’ve got apples for him later.”